Tarot
by artemisgirl
Summary: After a battle with Naraku, Kagome brings out a deck of tarot cards to cheer everyone up. Skeptical but curious, the group submits to a reading, but upon discovering the outcome, things will never be the same. InuKag MirSan fluff


A/N: A random, fluffyoneshot that I wrote on an impulse. Just InuKag fluff, really. No real other purpose than that. If you read it, please review!

Hmm, a canon pairing in Inuyasha... this must be a first for me!

**Tarot**

Inuyasha was beat.

They had just recently battled with Naraku, andeveryone was exhausted, both mentally and physically. Sango had been drained of all will at seeing her brother again, Miroku's wind tunnel was once again rendered ineffective with the Saimyosho buzzing about, and Shippo had been panicked when Kagome had gotten speared by Kagura's wind blades. Inuyasha had managed to save her, of course, only to see Kikyo off to the side of the field, watching him silently.

All in all, a very stressful day.

Inuyasha stretched, relaxing against the tree trunk from high up in his tree. With the final battle with Naraku drawing ever near, he was beginning to think about what would happen afterwards, if he were still alive. What sort of life he would make for himself. What he'd do for a living, how he'd manage it, and whether he'd be happy or not.

And whether or not Kagome would still be around...

Sighing, Inuyasha pushed that dismal thought from his mind and shut his eyes, intent on getting a rejuvenating nap without interruptions, from others or from his mind.

"Ooh! Are those them, Kagome? Are they? Are they?"

So much for that thought.

"Yes, Shippo. Now be patient! I'll read your cards in a minute!"

A half-smile quirked Inuyasha's lips. In an effort to cheer everyone up, Kagome had brought some cards back with her from the future to toy with. She'd said in her time they were used to tell the future. Tay-roh cards, or something, she called them.

Not that he _cared..._

"Okay, Shippo; think of a question and pick a card."

Inuyasha heard a brief rustling of the deck.

"What's it say? What's it say?"

Inuyasha's ear twitched at Shippo's excited tone, but he quickly ignored it and pushed his curiousity out of his mind.

"The High Priestess: an indication of a female influence helping to solve a problem through creativity, intuition, special knowledge, or the natural side of wisdom and understanding."

Shippo giggled excitedly, and Inuyasha's ears snapped against his skull, hoping to drown out the noise.

"Kagome! That's you!"

"What?"

"That High Priestess on the card! That's you, Kagome!"

Inuyasha allowed one ear to open up again, ever so slightly.

"What do you mean, Shippo?"

"I asked the cards how I was doing since my parents died, and that card showed up! A female influence helping out – that's what you've been doing, Kagome! That card is you! And it's right!"

Inuyasha heard Kagome laugh, and he turned his head toward the scene below, curious despite himself. Was it possible that her silly cards actually worked?

Kagome was sitting peacefully on the grass, her legs tucked away beside her, as Shippo hopped up and down excitedly, in apparent astonishment that the cards actually worked. Inuyasha watched as he danced around for a bit, before hurriedly returning and sitting down once more.

"I want to do another one!" he announced. Kagome smiled, and held out the cards once more. Shippo examined them closely for a minute, before plucking one out and looking at it carefully.

"I got seven upside-down little sticks, Kagome," he said, counting. "What's that mean?"

"Seven of wands..." Kagome murmured to herself, flipping through a little booklet that lay on her lap. "Seven of wands reversed," she said, finding it. "'Troubles without any promising prospects.' Sorry Shippo."

"Awww," Shippo said, his face falling. "I was hoping it was something good!"

Inuyasha watched as Kagome's lips twitched upward in amusement.

"And why is that, Shippo?"

"'Cause I asked the cards if I'll ever be stronger than Inuyasha he won't beat up on me, but it said I won't be!"

Kagome laughed while Shippo pouted.

"Your cards are wrong," Shippo declared, folding his arms. "I will too be stronger than Inuyasha someday!"

"We'll see about that," Inuyasha said, leaping down from his tree and landing nimbly beside Shippo, who shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling over. "These your fortune-telling cards, Kagome? Your tay-roh whatsits?"

Kagome smiled as she shuffled the cards, pleased he had remembered. "Tarot cards, Inuyasha," she corrected gently.

"Keh, whatever."

"One more, Kagome! I want to do one more!" Shippo said eagerly, and Kagome laughed.

"Go ahead, Shippo," she said, holding out the cards. Shippo peered at them for a moment, before picking the top card and handing it to Kagome.

"Nine of cups," Kagome said, turning a few pages. "Peace, contentment, fulfillment." She looked up. "That sounds nice," she remarked. "What'd you ask?"

Shippo beamed.

"I asked if I'll have a happy-ever-after," he said, smiling. Kagome laughed, before scooping him up and hugging him.

"Of course you'll have a happy ever-after, Shippo," she teased, ruffling his hair. "I wouldn't let it be any other way."

Inuyasha looked on, slightly jealous, and Shippo stuck his tongue out at him.

"Why, you little-" he started.

"Ooh, what do we have here?"

Inuyasha looked up to see Miroku and Sango standing over them, looking down at Kagome's cards curiously.

"Are those the Tarot cards, Kagome?" Sango asked, sitting down. "Can you do a reading for me?"

"Sure," Kagome said, shuffling the cards.

"This should be interesting," Miroku remarked, sitting down beside Sango easily, forming a circle with the others. "I doubt it'll work, though. I've never heard of this method of divination before."

"It does too work!" Shippo said hotly. "I asked three questions, and it answered right all the time!"

Miroku quirked an eyebrow.

"Lucky guesses," he smirked

Shippo opened his mouth to yell again, but Kagome cut him off.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" she said, smiling, extending her arms toward the taijiya. "Sango, think of your question and pick three cards."

"Hey! How come she gets to pick three and I only picked one?" Shippo demanded.

"'Cause she felt like it, that's why!" Inuyasha scoffed, aggravated as he bopped Shippo over the head. Kagome shot him an annoyed look.

"There are different spreads in tarot," Kagome explained, as Sango chose her cards. "Depending on who it is and their type of question, there are different layouts. Sango's question is bound to be more complicated than yours were, so I'm using a different one."

"Oh, I get it," Shippo said, lying down on his stomach and watching as Sango set her cards down side by side. "So hers will be more detailed, right?"

"Exactly." Kagome picked up the first card. "The first card is the root card, telling about events or influences in the past," she explained, turning it over and laying it down on the grass. "The Tower: a shattering of hopes and ambitions, ruin and destruction. However, out of the destruction comes rebuilding into something more."

Sango looked slightly taken aback at this, before pausing to think. Miroku laughed.

"Something hit home there, Sango?" he asked playfully. Sango rolled her eyes but turned back to Kagome.

"What's the next one mean?" she asked.

"The covering represents important events, issues, attitudes or influences in the present," Kagome recited, turning over the second card. "The ten of wands; obstacles and struggles."

Inuyasha watched curiously as Sango nodded immediately, not even pausing to reflect over the meaning this time.

"And the last card?"

"The future," Kagome said. "New events of influences that may occur; the outcome." She turned the last card over, setting it down, and everybody looked at it.

"Four of swords," Sango read, looking up at her friend. "What's it mean?"

Kagome paused.

"An unhappy ending to a struggle," she said finally, looking up. "But after the struggle, serenity and calm, understanding it was meant to be."

Inuyasha shot a glance at Sango, anxious. If she had asked about Naraku...

Kagome looked at Sango, who was looking down at her hands.

"You asked about your brother, didn't you?" she asked gently.

Looking up, Sango nodded slowly.

"I think- I always suspected that Kohaku would die in the end," she said quietly. "I don't want him to, but I guess, in a way, he needs to. He was already dead, and the dead aren't meant to come back." She smiled sadly. "At least he'll be at peace."

"Sango..."

Kagome reached over and gave Sango a hug, which she returned, before pulling back.

"Your cards are right, Kagome," Sango said, smiling a little. "You'll have to teach me how to read them someday."

Kagome laughed, as Shippo exclaimed, "I told you so!"

Miroku smirked.

"Alright, now," he said, moving closer. "This time, the reading will be for _me._ Kagome, if you're willing?"

Kagome smiled and nodded, sorting through the cards before handing Miroku a group of them.

"For this spread, you need to shuffle the cards while concentrating on your question," she explained at Miroku's baffled expression. "Try to block out all other thoughts."

"Shouldn't be too hard for him," Inuyasha remarked, bringing a laugh from the girls and a rogue grin from Miroku, before he handed them back.

"Now what?" he asked, watching as Kagome began laying five of them out face down in an odd sort of pattern.

"Now I read them," Kagome said. "We're only using the Major Arcana for this one, so this should be interesting."

"What's that mean?" Inuyasha found himself asking, curious despite himself.

"The Major Arcana are the first twenty-two cards of a tarot deck, " Kagome explained. "The ones with the individual pictures, without the cups and wands and so on."

Miroku grinned.

"A reading with even less cards?" he asked, amused. "How accurate can this be?"

"We'll see," Kagome said, smiling. "This is the Triskele spread."

They all watched as she turned over the first card.

"The covering: important influences in the current situation," she recited, glancing at the card. "The Fool reversed."

Inuyasha smirked, observing the silly picture on the card. "It suits him."

"A wise man and a trickster," Kagome continued, ignoring his outburst. "One who has a foolish lack of forethought."

Sango shot Miroku a dirty look.

"Why, I never-" Miroku objected weakly.

"The crossing deals with obstacles, problems, and opposition that must be addressed in order to get the most from your present circumstances," Kagome said, turning it over. "Justice: this card suggests a coming judgment, a positive sign, unless you are found lacking..."

Miroku raised an eyebrow but remained otherwise silent.

"The root: past influences that have brought about the current situation," Kagome said, idly flipping over the next card. "The Devil, reversed. Suggests that one has given into impulses a bit too often, succumbing to the dark side of nature."

Inuyasha and Sango both shot Miroku a look, daring him to deny it, but Miroku, surprisingly, remained silent.

"The future suggests fresh influences or events that are about to come into play and may operate in the near future." She flipped the card. "The Hanged Man. A card implying a sacrifice or risk, perhaps a decision to seek the inner reality needed to become whole, from which may come enlightenment and renewal."

Inuyasha cocked his head. From the cards that had shown up so far, he could guess that Miroku had asked about Sango, but a sacrifice or a risk? That didn't make much sense at all.

It seemed to make sense to Miroku, though, who nodded almost imperceptibly, as if too himself, before motioning for Kagome to turn over the last card.

"The last card," she announced. "The outcome."

She flipped it over and paused, before smiling.

"The Star," she said, a smile playing around her lips. "A fortunate card of enlightenment and enhanced awareness. This card indicates hope and renewal after calamity and promises new and rich horizons, perhaps in previously unforeseen directions."

Kagome smiled and Sango blushed, while Miroku relaxed, sitting back.

"I retract my earlier statement, Kagome," Miroku said lazily, stretching backwards. "Your cards are eerily accurate. I won't be doubting them again."

Kagome grinned, and began to sweep up the cards.

"Oh, wait!" Sango exclaimed. "Everyone here's had a reading except for Inuyasha! Isn't it his turn now?"

"Yeah!" Shippo piped up eagerly. "Inuyasha, don't you want to know what's in your future?"

The group all turned to look at Inuyasha, who squirmed uncomfortably.

"I don't have to say what my question is?" he asked, tentative. Kagome shook her head.

"Not if you don't want to," she affirmed. "Miroku didn't."

Inuyasha hesitated.

"Well, alright," he conceded. "Give me the cards."

Shippo cheered while Sango grinned as he shuffled the deck, careful not to bend them with his claws.

"Think of your question while shuffling," Kagome chimed, reminding him.

_Alright,_ Inuyasha thought to himself, still shuffling. _What to ask... I could ask about Naraku, but the others' seem to say that we'll win, so there's no point in that... I could ask about my future, but I already mostly know what I want to do..._

Inuyasha glanced around, thinking deeply, as his eyes fell on Kagome.

And suddenly, he knew the question he had to ask.

Squaring up the cards, he handed them quickly back to the miko, not looking her in the eye as she dealt seven out in bow shape.

"The root; influences in the past," Kagome said, turning over the leftmost card. "The five of wands; setbacks and obstacles, met with a determined nature."

Inuyasha was briefly reminded of his struggles as a hanyou years ago, before he shook his head quickly, focusing on the cards once more.

"The covering; important influences in the current situation," she continued, flipping the next one. "The six of swords; difficulties surmounted, possible defeat."

Inuyasha swallowed. That would be Naraku.

"The inside; your hopes, fears, and expectations regarding your question," Kagome recited. She turned it over. "The ace of cups." She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his steadily.

"So? What's it mean?" Inuyasha asked, biting his lip. He had a feeling this wouldn't be good.

"The ace of cups: love, fertility, happiness, and abundance," she said, her tone even.

Miroku hooted while Sango laughed. Inuyasha looked away, his face flaming. He _knew_ this wasn't a good idea.

"Settle down," Kagome admonished, and Inuyasha shot her a grateful look as she continued. "The crossing: obstacles, problems, conflicts or opposition that must be addressed to get the most from your present circumstances," she said dutifully. She turned it over, and Inuyasha's eyes widened.

The queen of swords.

Inuyasha sighed to himself. Couldn't _she_ stay out of this?

_Apparently not..._

"A dark, sad, tragic woman," Kagome said, a bit unnecessarily.

"Three guesses who _that_ is," Miroku said quietly, and Sango jabbed him in the side.

Kagome cleared her throat. "The house; how other people around you affect, influence or view your circumstances or concerns." She turned it over. "The Star: a card of enlightenment and enhanced awareness. This card indicates hope and renewal after a calamity."

Inuyasha glanced at his friends. At least he knew they were cheering for him, now.

"The future; this card suggests fresh influences or events that are about to come into play in the near future," Kagome said, flipping it. "The Sun. A card signifying a triumphant reward for coming through hardships. Wholeness and harmony is achieved."

_So that's how the mess with Naraku will end up... _Inuyasha thought to himself. _That's good, at least. _Inuyasha tried to relax, telling himself that no matter what the next card showed, it didn't really matter.

"The last card; the outcome," Kagome said unnecessarily.

Miroku leaned forward, intrigued. Sango watched anxiously, and Shippo looked about to wet himself with excitement.

Inuyasha and Kagome exchanged a nervous glance, hardly daring to breathe.

"The outcome."

Kagome flipped it over.

And everyone stared.

Miroku let out a triumphant shout, while Sango relaxed, smiling. Inuyasha shot Kagome a knowing grin, while her face burned a brilliant red. He glanced down at the last card again, hardly daring to believe his luck.

The Lovers.

_Perhaps this tarot thing isn't so bad, _Inuyasha mused, grinning as Kagome tentatively met his gaze, bashful but her eyes alight and sparkling, letting him know of her happiness. He grinned.

_Not bad at all. _

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Writing random fluff does wonders for your mood. :D

If you read it, please review! It's always greatly appreciated! Please, **review**!


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